Located in:
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
States that include TANF in the Combined State Plan must outline how the State will meet the requirements of section 402 of the Social Security Act including how it will:
f. Conduct a Program Designed to Reach State and Local Law Enforcement Officials, the Education System, and Relevant Counseling Services, That Provides Education and Training on the Problem of Statutory Rape So That Teenage Pregnancy Prevention Programs May Be Expanded to Include Men (section 402(a)(1)(a)(vi) of the Social Security Act)
Current Narrative:
The state of Minnesota considers sexual violence, including statutory rape, a public health problem. Sexual violence is defined as any of the following conditions: statutory rape, date/acquaintance rape, same–sex assault, child sexual abuse, incest, pornography, prostitution, sexual exploitation by professionals, stalking, sexual harassment, and any other sexual activity in which a person is forced, coerced or manipulated without her/his consent. In order to address this problem, the State passed provisions that outline consequences for sexual violence including age of consent laws (For further details, see Minnesota Statute 609.342 at https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.342 ) In addition, statewide partnerships approach sexual violence in a holistic manner that work towards the elimination of violent sexual behaviors including statutory rape.These efforts are provided under the leadership of a statewide stakeholder workgroup involving the following organizations and grassroots advocacy entities: • Minnesota State Department of Health • Minnesota Department of Human Services • Minnesota Department of Corrections • Representatives of county and local legal, health , law enforcement and abuse prevention organizations and workgroups • Minnesota Department of Education and representatives of local school districts • Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault • Teenwise Minnesota • The MN Men’s Action Network (Alliance to Prevent Sexual and Domestic Violence) These statewide public/private collaborative efforts support and fund annual conferences, periodic meetings, and ad hoc taskforces to shape the development of sexual violence prevention curriculum that is available and distributed to communities, youth, and professionals. Two Minnesota innovations used to combat sexual violence and abuse are the Duluth Model on Public Intervention and the Men As Peacemakers initiative of The MN Men’s Action Network, which was initiated by the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) to build a public/private prevention effort that promotes male leadership. To this end, a collaborative effort between the MDH, Men As Peacemakers in Duluth and the Gender Violence Institute in Clearwater, Minnesota, had been created to develop a network of men and male leaders involved in primary prevention practices. These efforts are currently coordinated by MDH, the Bush Foundation and the MN Department of Public Safety.